1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electrical connectors and, more particularly, to electrical contacts in connectors, each contact having a bend and a coined area on the exterior face of the bend for effecting contact with an electrical component.
2. Description of the Background Art
In the electrical arts it is a common practice to use a connector to mechanically and electrically couple a mother printed circuit board with a daughter printed circuit board as of the vertical edge card variety. In such a practice, there has been an evolution towards placing electrical contacts closer and closer together while maintaining a high, constant stress between the electrical contacts and the areas to be contacted. In placing the contacts closer together, as to 20 contacts per linear inch, the width of each contact must decrease. This, in turn, makes it much more difficult to keep the proper contact stress between the contact and the areas to be contacted while also assuring proper alignment between the two upon insertion of the edge card into the connector. One approach in the past was to apply a spherical dimple stampled into the contact.
In the past, there have been used connector contacts with dimples and without dimples. In addition, crowns have been placed on certain types of larger contacts as by the coining process. Also in the past, a wide variety of materials have been used as contacts and a wide variety of techniques have been used for assembling the contacts into the housing for pre-stressing purposes. Nowhere in the prior art, however, is there a connector with contacts of the reduced sizes and with the increased, constant stresses to achieve the performance as described and claimed herein.
Although many prior advances are noteworthy to one extent or another, none achieves the objective of an effective, efficient and economical connector with contacts, each having a coined bend and a contact area formed of compound radii.
As illustrated by a great number of prior patents as well as commercial devices, efforts are continuously being made in an attempt to improve connectors and their contacts to render them more efficient, effective and economical. None of these previous efforts, however, provides the benefits attendant with the present invention. Additionally, prior connectors and contacts do not suggest the present inventive combination of method steps and component elements arranged and configured as disclosed and claimed herein. The present invention achieves its intended purposes, objects and advantages over the prior art devices through a new, useful and unobvious combination of method steps and component elements, with the use of a negligible number of functioning parts, at a reasonable cost to manufacture, and by employing only readily available materials.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an electrical contact for use in a connector adapted to be attached to a mother printed circuit board and adapted to removably receive a daughter printed circuit board of the edge card type for mechanically and electrically coupling the mother and daughter printed circuit boards, the connector being of the type formed of an electrically insulating housing with a plurality of electrically conductive contacts extending therethrough for removably receiving the daughter printed circuit board, each contact including a first portion formed as a solder tail positionable to extend from the housing for coupling with the mother printed circuit board; a second portion extending from the solder tail at an angle for contacting and supporting a received daughter printed circuit board; and a third portion extending from the second portion at an angle to define, at the bight of the second and third portions, a contacting portion of curved configuration on the front face of the contact extending outwardly with respect to the rear face of the contact, with the contacting portion located for contacting the electrical conductive traces on the edge of a received daughter printed circuit board.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a method of fabricating an electrical contact comprising the steps of providing an elongated strip of electrically conductive material with a lower portion and an upper portion; coining the strip at an intermediate contact portion between the lower and upper portions and bending of the piece at the intermediate contact portion to form a bight with a radially interior face and a radially exterior face, the coined portion being on the radially exterior face for contacting a component to be electricaly coupled with the contact.
It is yet a further object of this invention to miniaturize electrical connectors and their contacts.
Still a further object of the invention is to maintain a high, constant stress between electrical contacts of connectors and the contacted electrical components.
An additional object of the invention is to precisely align electrical contacts of connectors during their contact with an electrical component.
Lastly, it is an object of the present invention to fabricate an electrical contact with a compound radii contact area (which may be generally spherical) on the exterior face of a bend through coining and bending.
The foregoing has outlined some of the more pertinent objects of the invention. These objects should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the intended invention. Many other beneficial results can be attained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or modifying the invention within the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the summary of the invention and the detailed description of the preferred embodiment in addition to the scope of the invention defined by the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.